Soaring in the '70s

Honda became a classic American success story in the
'60s. In this
single, crucial decade, Honda transformed itself from a
domestic
supplier to an international corporation, and planted a firm
foothold
on American soil. Honda began the '60s with 50cc
step-throughs, and
created a displacement escalator that carried the motorcycle
market
up to the incredible CB750 four by 1969. U.S. sales skyrocketed
from
a mere 3200 units in 1960 to an amazing 345,000 units by the
end of
the decade--more than 50 percent of the U.S. motorcycle market.

Having established itself with a sizable market share, a full
line
of machines, and a clean-cut image that bucked the hell-raiser
Hollywood stereotype, Honda entered the '70s prepared to flex
its
creative muscle and take off in directions no one else could.

The company's success in the '60s had been based on the
proven
air-cooled, two-valve engine and tube-frame technology that
found its
maximum expression in the CB750. And that technology started
the
decade off with Dick Mann's 1970 Daytona 200 win on a race
version of
that very motorcycle. But then, Honda broke that familiar mold
with a
flurry of innovative products that introduced riders to new ways to
enjoy motorcycling.

An important element of Honda's strategy has always been
innovation, offering completely new products that create new
market
segments. The ATC™90, introduced in 1970, is a classic
example. It
single-handedly created the ATV market. Honda also pioneered
evolution in existing markets. For example, taking the place of
the
CL off-road twins of the 1960s were new lines of highly
functional
single- and multi-cylinder four-stroke SLs, and single-cylinder
XLs.
The TL125 introduced motorcyclists to another new sport: trials
riding. In 1973, Honda parried the two-stroke thrusts of its rivals
with the radical CR250M Elsinore™, a purpose-built
two-stroke
motocross racer that won the National championship its first
year
out. That same year, Honda's concentrated efforts in the off-road
area had helped the off-highway segment grow to 25 percent of
the
total bike market. Into this thriving market, Honda launched a
proliferation of enduro and trail MTs, XLs and SLs, including the
hugely successful XL350 in 1974.

Honda was at the same time expanding its automotive
efforts, and
exploring the idea of producing some of its products in the
United
States. What's more, a fascinating struggle began to take shape
within the company, one that would redirect design and unlock
new
possibilities for a long time to come. Mr. Honda strongly believed
innovative engineering could produce air-cooled auto engines
as good
as or better than the liquid-cooled competition, so 1960s Honda
cars
as well as bikes were air-cooled. But Honda's younger
engineers
strongly favored liquid cooling, both for performance and market
appeal. Mr. Honda initially resisted, but after a showdown with
company vice president Takeo Fujisawa, he eventually accepted
liquid
cooling as the key to future development.

Honda's new liquid-cooled direction led first to the CVCC
clean-burn auto engine, introduced at the 1972 Tokyo show. This
was
the first production auto engine to meet the 1975 EPA standard
without a catalytic converter, and it demonstrated Honda's
research
capability to the world. The Honda Civic auto, with this and other
liquid-cooled engines, immediately became popular in the U.S.

Such thinking and research led to the creation of yet another
new
market segment--though not even Honda knew it at the time. The
1975
GL™1000 Gold Wing® was Honda's first thorough synthesis
of
automotive and motorcycle technologies. The temperature
stability of
liquid cooling allowed the GL to develop high power, yet lose
none of
Honda's customary reliability. Gold Wing engineers had
envisioned it
as the ultimate performance bike, combining 1000cc power with
flat-four smoothness and liquid-cooled silence. Indeed, the Gold
Wing
posted the quickest quarter-mile of its day, but buyers saw its
greatest value as a long-distance machine. In a unique
partnership
with Gold Wing owners, the GL created a whole new category of
motorcycle: the dedicated touring bike. Its evolution continues to
this day.

However, not all of Honda's innovations gained widespread
acceptance. Hondamatic™--a torque-converter-based
automatic
transmission for motorcycles--was a successful technology that
didn't
catch the public's fancy. Electric starting had brought a lot of
people to motorcycling, and Honda wondered: Would an
automatic do the
same? The 1976 CB750 Automatic and 1977 CB400A were
remarkable
machines, but riders chose high-performance over this
convenience.
Honda also launched two other wildly diverse products in
1977--the
NC50 no-ped, an ultralight, minimalist motorbike, and the FL250
Odyssey® four-wheeler, a natural evolution of the ATC90.

By 1978, Honda had prepared to close the decade with a
barrage of
innovative machines. The first shot came in the form of the
CX500. A
significant new direction in engine design was packaged into the
unusual CX500, whose liquid-cooled V-twin engine was set
sideways in
the chassis. With four valves in each cylinder, the CX500 was a
high-performance pushrod V-twin in a sea of overhead-cam
inline-fours. Its radically oversquare bore and stroke of 78mm by
52mm made it the forerunner of all modern short-stroke,
big-bore
sport bike engines.

Air cooling wasn't finished yet, though. Two stunning new
machines
used it to probe the future of sports motorcycling in 1979: the
16-valve, twin cam, transistor-sparked CB750F, and the
technologically astounding 1047cc six-cylinder CBX. The 750F
was a
production outgrowth of Honda's successful twin-cam
endurance racer,
and beckoned the company deeper into sport bike territory. As
the
first CB750 had realized the legend of Honda's racing fours in
the
showroom, so the six-cylinder CBX grew naturally from the
heritage of
Mike Hailwood and the 250cc and 297cc six-cylinder racers of
1964
through 1967. The 1979 CBX became an exotic signpost to the
future.

Honda closed the decade by opening a motorcycle
manufacturing
plant in Marysville, Ohio, designed initially to produce the Gold
Wing. This 260,000-square-foot plant introduced production
versatility not found in other Honda plants, giving the company
the
ability to respond quickly to changing tastes, and to satisfy new
and
expanding markets. This plant, like Honda's innovative
machines,
defined a decade marked by classic, hallmark Honda thinking:
That
anything was possible. From the many new elements
discovered and
created in the experiments of the 1970s, Honda synthesized new
directions for the 1980s. These would lead in turn to new
surprises
and opportunities.